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Differences in the Way Older and Younger Adults Rate Threat in Faces But Not Situations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
² Department of Psychology, University of Sussex, England.

Address correspondence to Ted Ruffman, University of Otago, Department of Psychology, Box 56, Dunedin, 9003, New Zealand. E-mail: tedr{at}psy.otago.ac.nz

We compared young and healthy older adults' ability to rate photos of faces and situations (e.g., sporting activities) for the degree of threat they posed. Older adults did not distinguish between more and less dangerous faces to the same extent as younger adults did. In contrast, we found no significant age differences in young and older adults' ability to distinguish between high- and low-danger situations. The differences between young and older adults on the face task were independent of age differences in older adults' fluid IQ. We discuss results in relation to differences between young and older adults on emotion-recognition tasks; we also discuss sociocognitive and neuropsychological (e.g., amygdala) theories of aging.